Blessings In My Life

Well, the gray days of February seem to be catching up to me. It feels like winter will never end. So, I have been trying to think of something positive to reflect on instead of moping about, wishing for sunshine. I have been thinking about an experience that happened about a year ago that was inspiring and awesome. At the time, it was one of those no good, awful, very bad days.

It started out as most days did a year ago, me driving Reed to work out in Caldwell, and then swinging back around taking myself to work back in Meridian. We were in our usual rush, cereal bowls in hand, arms full of sweatshirts, purses, lunches, etc.

We piled in the car, trying to hurry so we could miss school traffic. No such luck. We waited behind what seemed like a half mile worth of cars just to make it to the 4 way stop and on down the road toward the freeway. Inside the car, Reed and I talked and munched our way down the road, fretting about the work day ahead of us.

While pulling onto the freeway, Reed looked over, (he was driving), to see someone in a car next to us pointing at our car, and trying to mouth something to him. He pulled over, walked around the car, checked the tired, with nothing amiss. We proceeded clear out to Caldwell and pulled into his work.

Getting out, Reed couldn't find his wallet. We hurriedly looked in all the nooks and crannies of the car, only to find nothing. I asked Reed if he might have put it on the roof as I had seen him do before. He said yes. I asked him if he had picked it up off of the roof. He said he didn't think he had. So, somewhere along all the roads and freeway we had driven, Reed's wallet and his German book had taken a little tumble to the ground. We were freaking out a lot at this point. And yet, I had to turn around and drive hurriedly on to my job.

Driving back on the freeway, I was looking left to right and right to left, trying to safely look for some sign of something. 10 minutes into the drive, and after a few prayers as well, Reed called me to tell me someone had just called his mom saying they had found his wallet. 10 minutes! That has to be some kind of record.

On my lunch hour, I drove to meet the kind and honest man who had found Reed's wallet during his morning commute. I'm sure he had no idea what kind of predicament we were in - we were expecting a baby in a few months, we had had some layoffs at my work and I was freaked out about losing my job which provided our insurance, we had one car to share because our other car had needed to be fixed, and Reed was working a job that was merely a way to make some money.

As I came face to face with Darren, the wallet finder, I could tell this was the kind of thing he would do on a daily basis. I can appreciate people like him, with whom honesty is not even a second thought.

On that day, he was an answer to prayers. He brought peace so quickly to a situation that could have been so much worse. And for that reason, Darren is my happy thought for today.


( He had looked in the wallet to find the drivers license only, and had even been kind enough to count all the credit cards, assess if there was any cash, and when I picked it up he reported exactly what he had found in the wallet, which was exactly the way Reed had left it.)

*In case you were wondering, Reed's German book met its sad demise on the freeway. It had survived a 12 minute drive with lots of turns, only to be torn apart by the fast speeds on the freeway on the top of our car. I found its contents later in the day, torn apart and gracing the right shoulder of the freeway. There was too much to pick up! It has gone the way of the earth by now, I'm sure. *